Виталий МАНСКИЙ

Vitali MANSKI

Russia, 1990, 86 mn

documentary

Etudes About Love

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Этюды о любви

Etudes sur l'amour

Etyudy o lyubvi

Format : 35 mm

Plot synopsis

1991 part 1. Josef, Adolf and Eva. The history of the whole country can be seen through the history of inhabitants of a shared apartment in the centre of Moscow. The first film was made back then in the USSR in 1990. At night under the windows of the shared apartment tanks are roaring menacingly, rehearsing the last military parade in honor of the October Socialist Revolution. And the dwellers are provided with humanitarian aid from Germany.
1993 part 2. Big Sale. The second film’s title is "Big Sale". It was shot in 1993, when the roar of jackhammers is heard all around and the only window that opens on to Gorky Street over a new “McDonald’s” restaurant is being nailed down. The whole country is longing to see Michael Jackson’s coming.
1995 part 3. New Times. This is the last film of the trilogy "Etudes about love". It is called "New times". It is not any more dedicated to the inhabitants of the marriage-type shared apartment, but to the residents of an exclusive Stalinist house, built for the Soviet elite that is undoubtedly influenced by trendiness of the new times. When inhabitants of the shared apartment, surrounded by their belongings, are being taken either to the cemetery or to newly built districts, the former Soviet elite surrenders to onslaught of the New-Russian money and sells out their apartments.